Monday 24th May 2010 - weather: hot hot hot

QUAIL DIARY

The pecking order in the quailarium seems to be sorted. Out of our 11 birds, we are farely confident we have 4 boys. This is okay, they don't seem to harrass the ladies too much - just the odd quickie, no foreplay, no boxes of choccies.

The family are becoming friendlier and as they reach maturity, we are starting to see their personalities. Grumpy and gingernut, both chaps, love to crow. It is such a great sound, a muted cock a doodle doo. They seem to like the sound of their own voices mid afternoon. I have no idea if they are crowing during the wee small hours as they are at the end of the garden and have to compete with the blackbirds who seem to wake up at 3am to start the dawn chorus.

One of the fat range girls has left the madding crowd and lives up on the shelf. I have given her a box to live in and some straw and she has a flower pot full of compost which she snuggles down in. The rest of the clan had adopted pots, or the wooden house to sit in, although they all love to fluff up the dry compost and cause a dust storm before nestling down in the impression they have made.

The new clan were all quite scruffy when they arrived, but I am glad to report that injuries have healed and feathers have all regrown. I put that down to a healthy diet of mealworms, quail mix, dandelions, cabbage leaves, corn on the cob and soaked bread crusts. Am I fattening them up for Christmas??

Have we named them all? No is the short and easy answer. We have stumpy, named as she is missing at least 3 toenails, bobble, named by daughter, The Big One, our large pied white, who is large, and fat, and wobbly, Grumpy a mean boy who shagged everyone upon arrival and started quite aggressively. He has now settled down and is slightly gentler in his love making. And finally, gingernut. He is the odd one out, the only ginger quail we have. He was very scruffy upon arrival, but has settled in to the house well and is looking much less shabby. I haven't seen any bedroom action from him, but he does stand on tip toe and crow loudly.

The greatest news so far - EGG COUNT 72 !!!!!